Headwaters Fund board should be wrested from supes' control

The pulling of the strings of the economy in Humboldt County is done by a tightly interconnected circle that consists of the Economic Development Department, the Headwaters Fund and the Board of Supervisors. The board appoints the Headwaters Fund's board. The final approval of Headwaters grants/loans is given by the supervisors. EDD sets priorities for funding and makes recommendations to Headwaters. In essence all three entities are in each others' pockets.

In its Prosperity 2013 document, EDD identifies eight target groups. Forestry is one and EDD recommended that Headwaters award $750,000 for an ad campaign to sell redwood decking far and wide. They contend redwood is being replaced by manufactured decking. The redwood they are passing off as superior is from 40-60 year old trees with no heartwood and is limitedly sustainable. In order to support big businesses, Headwaters, EDD and the supervisors put out one of the biggest awards they've ever made and that award will NOT create new jobs. They all know which side their bread is buttered on.

A first step towards a healthier economy is to break the circle. The supervisors should be completely separated from Headwaters and EDD. We are seeing the results of board appointments of planning commissioners who are shredding the GPU and creating a developer free-for-all and discarding essential environmental safeguards because they put most of the supervisors in office. The same for board appointments for Headwaters.

Next would be to require that EDD considers what economists call "externalities" -- the costs of corporate damage paid for by the taxpayer. On a local level when the Elk floods because of poor forestry practices, residents are locked in and can't get to work, can't shop or access health care and roads are damaged, all of which is an economic/taxpayer burden. When EDD says that forestry is 11 percent of our economy, it fails to subtract the externalities.

EDD must dump its target industry list and open its doors wider. Its job shouldn't be to use money meant to develop jobs for keeping old school businesses limping along. EDD needs a housecleaning and needs to start looking ahead.

Further, the Headwaters Fund needs to start following the terms of its charter, such as enhancing quality of life through social and environmental projects and enhance the natural environment, as well as creating jobs.

Most importantly, there should be an independent commission to seek out and encourage the creation of green, forward thinking additions to our economic base. They should be completely separate from the supervisors, EDD and the fund. They should have the power to actively solicit businesses and to widely disseminate ideas to the community as well as take input from the community.

There are so many things we can/should be doing here, many of which other communities have already modeled for us. We are a natural here for ecotourism. The Headwaters Fund gave $50,000 to Orick to upgrade the bathrooms in its rodeo grounds. Meanwhile Orick is a sad waste. It's the gateway to the redwoods among other things and that $50,000 could have been a start to creating classy lodging and top grade restaurants and a high-grade coffee shop. Tourists coming through from far away do not want biscuits and gravy; they want a fairly sophisticated range of choices of healthy food.

There is state and federal money out there for the creation of a green economy. I don't see our leaders going after that. The Bronx has a Green Workers Cooperative that trains teams of aspiring entrepreneurs to develop green, worker-owned businesses. We need to help people get green micro-financing. There is money for home energy efficiency improvements and affordable multifamily housing. There are new versions of wind turbines that eliminate the down sides of the current turbines.

We need more organic farming and hemp and bamboo farms, both of which can be made into a multitude of products. Bamboo needs no herbicides, pesticides or fertilizer.

The Harbor District's acquisition of the pulp mill site is set to bring us innovative, high tech projects, maybe even an ocean study institute. At HSU a design for a desalinization project that is also used for purifying waste water will be built at the pulp mill that will train technicians and create skilled jobs. There is also the Schatz Energy Lab.

Let's green Humboldt and build the economy and usher this county into an economy and way of life that's tomorrow, not yesterday.